


more landmarks, less landmines

by playedwright



Series: the universe was made to be seen by our eyes [8]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23470948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/playedwright/pseuds/playedwright
Summary: The thought of Mike soothes Bill as much as it makes his heart rate spike.Bill hasn’t allowed himself much time to think about what that means. There wasn’t time, on the Hermes, when they were prepping for the mission. Then there wasn’t room amidst all the mourning, nor was there space between turning around and rescuing Richie. Never the right time, never the right place, never a moment alone, always some convenient excuse Bill could use as a reason for why he wasn’t quite ready to confront how he felt about Mike.After the trial, Bill had to admit to himself there was nothing holding him back anymore.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon
Series: the universe was made to be seen by our eyes [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565464
Comments: 11
Kudos: 183





	more landmarks, less landmines

**Author's Note:**

> happy bday [lore](https://twitter.com/chernobrough) you can have some martian canon denbrough as a treat I HOPE TODAY WAS KIND TO YOU ILY XOXO
> 
> also uh, my first time writing hanbrough and it's a little rushed so i'm Nervous but ITS BIKE NIGHT!

**[ DECEMBER 21, 2037** — **BOSTON ]**

The flight from Los Angeles to Boston is otherwise uneventful, besides a short layover in Denver where Bill was asked for an autograph. It helps the anxiety that coils in the pit of his stomach. He’d like to attest the nerves to his cross-country move, but he knows it’s not the truth.

Mike is picking him up from the airport.

Insanely, the thought soothes Bill as much as it makes his heart rate spike.

Bill hasn’t allowed himself much time to think about what that means. There wasn’t time, on the _Hermes,_ when they were prepping for the mission. Then there wasn’t room amidst all the mourning, nor was there space between turning around and rescuing Richie. Never the right time, never the right place, never a moment alone, always some convenient excuse Bill could use as a reason for why he wasn’t quite ready to confront how he felt about Mike.

After the trial, Bill had to admit to himself there was nothing holding him back anymore.

He turns his phone back off once the plane lands and is cleared for deplaning, pulling up his text chain to Mike while the people around him stand and start gathering their things.

_Landed,_ he says, easy as breathing. Text bubbles appear instantly. Bill can feel them in his chest.

Mike texts back, saying, _I’m by the baggage claims. Can’t wait to see you :)_ , and whatever weight had been pressing down on Bill’s shoulders since they returned back to Earth four months ago finally lifts off his shoulders.

He makes quick work of grabbing his carry-on and his laptop bag, shuffling out when there’s a chance to ease his way into the line, then his feet are officially on the ground in Boston and it hits him that this is real; he’s here, he’s made the move to Boston, and he has no clear idea for what comes next.

He’s been to Boston Logan Airport before, months ago, when Harvard first reached out to him about this job. Bill had flown in quietly and interviewed quietly and went back home quietly, too worried that speaking it into existence would jinx it. He’d told Georgie and the girls first, then after they all went to bed and Bill was tucked under his own covers he’d tentatively pulled out his phone and dialed Mike’s number.

It hadn’t been jinxed, in the end, because otherwise he wouldn’t be here. Making his way towards the baggage claim with his heart hammering against his ribcage in anticipation of seeing Mike again. Well—

  
If he’s being honest with himself, he might be here anyway.

He takes the same path he walked before through the airport to get to the baggage claim, glancing up at the signs every now and then to make sure he’s going the right way. His phone buzzes in his hand with a few more texts from Mike, and a few from Georgie. Bill keeps moving forward like something is drawing him that way.

The baggage claim is already crowded by the time Bill makes his way there, people loitering around the edges and waiting for the carousel to start. Bill doesn’t care about any of that. He strains his neck to see above the people, hoping to catch sight of Mike already here.

When he does see Mike, _finally,_ something slots into place inside of him.

They’ve talked on the phone. They’ve talked over video calls. They text often and they’re in the group chat and it’s not like Bill doesn’t know how Mike is _doing_ but being here… Seeing him in person. Being less than three yards from him. It’s bigger than Bill can even think to explain. 

“Bill,” Mike calls, and that’s all the warning he gets before Mike takes two bounding steps forward and crushes Bill into a hug. He is warm and solid and steady, same as he’s always been. The man who makes Bill’s heart race but keeps his head on his shoulders. Bill hugs him back on instinct. “Bill.”

“Hey, Mikey,” Bill breathes. He grips Mike’s jacket a little tighter.

Mike pulls away after one minute or a hundred, and there’s a bright grin on his face. “Glad you made it safely. How are you feeling?”

_Better now,_ Bill thinks, and if he were a braver man he’s certain he would have said it out loud. “Tired. Gross. Same old usual after-flight feel.”

“Yeah, there’s no escaping that,” Mike says around a low chuckle. He looks down at both of Bill’s bags with a raised eyebrow. “I’m assuming you have more bags, or is this all you brought on your move across the country?”

“F— _fuck_ you, Mikey,” Bill laughs. “I have one more bag. The rest will come when Georgie’s family moves out here.”

Mike’s face lights up again at the mention of Georgie’s family. He reaches forward, taking Bill’s carry-on and slinging it on his own shoulder with ease before turning on his heel and leading Bill to the carousel to wait for his checked bag. “All, the baby Denbroughs! How are Nora and Amelia?”

“So good,” Bill says proudly. He fumbles to pull his phone out of his pocket, swearing when it nearly slips out of his hand, then unlocks it to show Mike pictures. “Look, don’t they l-l-look so big? Nora’s been showing off her somersaults like a r-real Olympic gold medalist. Amy’s started drawing people, she’s very pr-proud.”

“God, they’re growing up so much,” Mike whistles. “Weren’t they just born?”

Bill laughs as he pockets his phone. “They’ll be five in March, if you c-c—Jesus. Can believe it.”

“ _Five?_ ” Mike repeats. He grabs Bill’s checked bag off the carousel before Bill even has a chance to. “They were babies when we left!”

“Y-y-yeah, that’s what babies do, M-Mikey. They grow,” Bill says with a grin. He reaches for his bag but Mike turns sharply and starts walking away with both of them. “Hey, w-w—Mike, I can take a bag!”

Mike grins wickedly at him. “Try to keep up, Big Bill.”

* * *

“Thank you, again, for l-letting me crash here,” Bill says. He follows closely behind Mike into the apartment. “I’ll be out of your h-h-hair sooner or later.”

Mike makes a dismissive sound. “What’s mine is yours, man, you know that. You can be here as long as you need,” he says, and he shoots Bill a sweet smile over his shoulder. Bill’s insides have been turned to goo. “You just moved across the country, you’re allowed to couch surf a little bit.”

Bill laughs. “D-d-didn’t get to do that in my twenties, I was too busy w-w—fuck. With school. Becoming an astrophysicist.”

“Oh, well now you’re just showing off.”

Mike sets him up in the guest room, which is more than Bill had expected. It’s tidy and bare. Mike gently places both of Bill’s bags on the bed in the middle of the room. “This is great, Mikey, thank you,” Bill says honestly. “Don’t know h-how I’m gonna repay you for this.”

He moves forward, thinking Mike will shift backwards in accommodation, but suddenly they’re pressed chest to chest as Bill slowly lowers his laptop bag onto the bed. He looks up slowly. It’s overwhelming, then, just how much height Mike’s actually got on him. Something Bill had never had the chance to realize before. Something he hadn’t _let_ himself realize.

“Mike…” Bill says slowly. Neither of them move.

He can track the movement of Mike’s throat when he swallows. “You know you don’t have to repay me, Bill. I’d do anything for you.”

Something ignites within him. Maybe that’s all it takes, maybe that’s what makes him brave enough to reach forward and grab two fistfuls of Mike’s jacket. Not brave enough to tug him down. Not yet.

“Mike,” he says again, slowly.

“What are you doing, Bill?” Mike whispers.

Bill exhales. They’re close enough to one another that he’s certain Mike can feel the rise and fall of his chest. “What are _we_ doing, M-Mike? How long are we going to do this?”

“What if it’s not a good idea?” Mike reasons, but he reaches forward and puts his hands on Bill’s hips anyway. “Our friends just barely got together. The trial just ended. You just _moved_ across the country, you’re… you’re gonna be living here.”

“Richie and Eds have been t-t-together for three months now,” Bill reminds him. “Trial’s been done for two.”

Mike shifts closer.

“D-do you not w-w-want this?” Bill asks. Part of him is terrified to know the answer. He was a broken man before he even stepped foot on the _Hermes_ and maybe he hasn’t given himself enough time to heal. Maybe it’s deceptive, really, spending that much time with the family you create and thinking that it means you’re better.

“Of course I want it,” Mike says. “Bill, I… I’ve wanted this for years.”

_That_ reverberates in Bill’s ribcage, ratting his heart and his lungs and echoing in his ears. He can’t wrap his head around it. “Years?” he repeats.

“It was never the right time,” Mike admits with a shaky laugh. A broken echo of the same sentiment Bill had thought to himself over and over again, for the majority of the flight over and every single time Mike has crossed his mind since they came home.

Bill licks his lips. “Is it? Now?”

Mike’s eyelids flutter closed. “Bill…”

“Please just kiss me already”

That’s all it takes, in the end, for Mike to bend down and capture Bill’s mouth in the sweetest kiss he’s ever been given. Mike’s hand is on his jaw, angling him up, slotting their mouths together perfectly. Mike kisses him like they’ve got nothing but time. It’s a toe-curling kind of kiss, but not because it’s in the heat of the moment. No, this is the kind of kiss that Bill can feel deep in his gut, that he can feel where he grips Mike’s shirt to keep him close, that he can feel with every pounding beat of his heart. This is the kind of kiss that will wake him up in the middle of the night and fill him with emotion so strong he’ll feel like he has to turn over and see Mike, gentle and steady and asleep next to him, just to be sane again.

So maybe it was worth it, Bill thinks desperately, when something inside of him snaps and grows hungry for more. Maybe it was worth wading through all the wrong times and the doubts, if it meant Mike would kiss him like this. If it meant that all it would take to deepen the kiss was a low growl from Bill and a tighter grip on Mike’s shirt. He’d do it all a thousand times over, just for the rush of adrenaline that surges through his body when Mike uses his height advantage to walk Bill backwards until he’s pressed against the wall.

“Mike,” he gasps out, startled and turned on and happier than he can ever remember being. There was a piece of him that he was certain was missing, something that he thought he had left in between the stars when they came back to earth, but he knows now that whatever he was missing had been placed in Mike’s hands and Bill is complete again.

He’s content to spend hours like this, days even, caught between Mike and the wall with Mike pressing searing kiss after kiss against his lips, his jawline, his neck. He understands now why the romance novels use the word _ravaged_ in scenes like this.

Bill presses up on his toes just enough to kiss Mike again, square on the mouth. There’s something inside of him that is burning up, desperate to memorize this. Mike makes a noise at the back of his throat that electrifies Bill’s entire bloodstream.

“I love you,” Mike gasps out, and in that instant Bill is certain he can feel it when the earth slows to a halt.

Mike tenses up.

“Shit,” he whispers, mostly to himself. Mike moves his head and ducks it as best as he can into Bill’s shoulder. “Damnit. Bill.”

“You do?” Bill asks, and for once there isn’t even a waver in his voice. He knows what he wants. He wants to hear it again. He needs to hear it a thousand more times. He wants to hear it every day for the rest of his life.

“I didn’t mean to say it,” Mike admits.

Bill lifts Mike’s head up by his chin and waits, waits, waits until Mike’s gaze finally settles on him. Bill hopes he never stops feeling light he’s been lit on fire when Mike looks at him. “Would it help if I said I love you, too?” he asks.

Beautifully, Mike’s jaw drops open a little bit. “What?”

Bill grins. “Would it help?”

“You love me?”

“Yeah, Mikey. Have for a while.”

Mike lets out a breathless laugh. His eyes are wide, and Bill can’t tell if it’s from shock or arousal. A little bit of both, he hopes, privately to himself. There’s a thrill racing under his skin at the idea of it. “Your stutter,” Mike murmurs. “It’s getting better.”

“Easy to work around when I’m sure about something,” Bill says. He refuses to let his voice waver. This, right here, is how he can prove to Mike that he means it. “And I am. I’m sure about you.”

Mike’s responding smile is beaming and beautiful and it knocks the wind right out of Bill. He laughs, carefree, like they’re teenagers and nothing in the world has ever hurt them. Bill doesn’t have a second to catch his breath before Mike picks him up and spins him around, and both of them are laughing when they go tumbling onto the bed.

“The bags, the bags!” Bill laughs, and he shoves them out of the way. Mike settles steady and strong, on top of him. He pushes a stray strand of hair off of Bill’s forehead.

“I love you,” Mike says again.

Bill reaches up and presses his palm to Mike’s cheek, smiling to himself when Mike leans into it. Mike is warm on his hand. Every point where they touch is on fire. Bill wonders how it took them so long to get here. He still thinks it was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on [tumblr](https://rchtoziers.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/SPACERICHlE) if you want to come say hello!


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